Plains zebra

Status

Near Threatened

Classification

Mammal

Exhibit

African Plains

Unique & Effective Stripes

You can spot a plains zebras by their bold black-and-white stripe pattern. Much like human fingerprints, each animal's stripes are unique and no two are exactly alike. Zebras' stripes not only help them avoid predators by breaking up their outlines, they also discourage flies from biting them.

Black or White Stripes?

A zebra's stripes comes from a genetic process called selective pigmentation. What this means is black is the predominant, actual color pigmentation of the zebras coat and the part of the zebras coat that does not contain pigmentation (or at least very little pigmentation) appears as the white stripes and underbelly. So, zebras are black with white stripes!